1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print order system, a printing system, and an order terminal for placing a print order regarding image data via a network. The present invention also relates to a program that causes a computer to execute the procedures carried out in the printing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been known digital photograph service systems for carrying out various types of digital photograph services such as storing photographs obtained by users in image servers after digitization thereof, recording the photographs in CD-Rs to be provided to the users, printing images photographed by users with digital cameras, and receiving orders for additional prints. As one form of such digital photograph service systems, a printing service system for receiving print orders via a network such as the Internet has also been proposed.
In such a printing service system, a user installs viewer software in his/her personal computer that acts as a user terminal, for reproducing image data recorded in a recording medium such as a CD-R or obtained by a digital camera. The user reproduces images represented by the image data, and generates order information describing the content of an order by using an ordering function built-in to the viewer software if the user wishes to place an order. The user transfers the order information and the image data representing the images to be printed to an order reception server installed in a service center for receiving the order from the user terminal via a network such as the Internet. The order reception server transfers the order information and the image data to a print server installed in a large-scale laboratory for dealing with the order. Printed matter such as additional prints, picture postcards, or a photograph album is then generated in the laboratory, based on the order information.
The printed matter generated in the above manner is delivered or mailed to an agency specified by the user at the time of placing the order. The user visits the agency, and can receive the printed matter by paying a charge at the agency. The user can designate the agency at the time of placing the order, and a desired store or the like close to the place of residence or employment of the user is generally designated as the agency. The image data and the order information are transferred from the order reception server to the laboratory in collaboration with the agency designated by the user.
The user can designate the agency by: (1) selecting the desired agency from a list of agencies displayed on the user terminal; (2) selecting area information such as a prefecture by using the user terminal and then selecting the desired agency from a list of agencies in the selected area displayed on the user terminal; (3) displaying the agency closest to the user on the user terminal, based on the zip code of the user; or (4) directly inputting the name of the agency from the user terminal, for example. In this manner, the user can freely select the agency as desired.
The order information herein referred to is information such as a processing number for specifying the content of a printing service (generation of ordinary prints or picture postcards or the like), an image number for specifying a photograph (a number representing an image data file), a print size, a quantity of prints, specification of printing paper (such as glossy or non-glossy), thickness of the printing paper, the content of photographic processing, and trimming specification, for example. The order information further includes information regarding the name, the address, the zip code and the phone number of the user, for example.
The printed matter generated in the printing service is delivered or mailed to the agency designated by the user at the time of placing the order, and the user receives the printed matter at the agency, as has been described above. If the agency installs a server for receiving the order information and the image data as well as a printer to print the image data, the agency can function as a laboratory. If the agency has the function of a laboratory, delivery of the printed matter to the agency, which is necessary in the case of a large-scale laboratory, becomes unnecessary. Therefore, although the agency is small as a laboratory, the time necessary for providing the user with the printed matter can be shortened.
Meanwhile, in such a printing service system, a user who places a print order may wish another person to receive the printed matter. For example, in the case where a user living in Tokyo wishes to send a photograph (printed matter) of his/her child to his/her parents in Hokkaido, it is more efficient for the user to designate a DPE store or the like in his/her parents' neighborhood as an agency so that the parents can receive the printed matter there at than to mail the printed mater after reception thereof by himself/herself. In such a case, the user designates a DPE store or the like in his/her parents' neighborhood as an agency and notifies his/her parents of the fact. The parents can then receive the photograph at the agency. The user can pay a charge with use of his/her credit card or the like.
However, even if the user places another print order in which the user himself/herself is designated as a recipient after placing a print order wherein the user was not a recipient, the setting of the agency is not changed. Therefore, the agency remote from the user is designated instead of an agency close to the user, and the user may confirm the new order without realizing this fact. In such a case, the user realizes his/her mistake in agency designation after visiting the agency close to his/her home, and the user has to visit the remote agency in order to receive the printed matter. Alternatively, the user needs to place a new order by changing the agency from the remote one to the near one, which is troublesome for the user. Even in the case where the agency has been changed, the data regarding the recipient may not be changed, and another person living away from the designated agency may be designated as the recipient in the new print order.